‘If You’re Under 50, You’ll Live Forever: Hello Transhumanism’ was the name of the session and featured Alex Rodriguez Vitello of the World Economic Forum and Stephen Dunne of Telefonica-owned innovation facility Alpha.

Transhumanism is the idea that humans can evolve beyond their current physical and mental limitations using technological advancements. In some ways, this is already happening.

Medical advancements have extended our lifespans and AI is helping to make further breakthroughs in areas such as cancer treatment.

Vitello notes how Dr Aubrey de Grey from the SENS Research Foundation has been able to extend the lifespan of mice threefold (Fun fact: Grey was an AI reseearcher before switching fields to biology.)

“That’s about 300 years in human years. And these mice are super happy, they’re like having sex and everything is great,” jokes Vitello.

Prosthetics, meanwhile, are enabling people to overcome their disabilities. Today, you can even be turned into a human compass with an implant that vibrates every time you face north.

CRISPR gene editing will one day help to eliminate disorders prior to birth. “You can eliminate cancer, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis… all these things,” comments Vitello.

Artificial limbs will go beyond matching the abilities of natural body parts and provide things such as enhanced vision or superhuman strength beyond what even Arnie achieved in his prime.

These are exciting possibilities, but some transhumanist concepts are many years from becoming available. Even when they are, most enhancements will remain unaffordable for quite some time.

Cryogenics, the idea of being frozen to be revived years in the future, is one such example of something that’s possible today but unaffordable to most. One of the biggest companies in the field is Alcor if you’re willing to part with $200,000.

In answer to whether he agreed with the panel’s title, Dunne responded that a better question to ask is whether the first person is alive that will live forever. On that basis, he believes they might be.

“If you’re [Amazon CEO] Jeff Bezos, maybe,” commented Dunne. “If you put all your resources towards that.”

One concept is that we’ll be able to live forever virtually through storing a digital copy of our brains. American inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil wants his brain to be downloaded and uploaded elsewhere when he dies.

“What’s more, he [Ray] has all these recordings of his father and he wants to take all of this information and put it on a computer brain to see if he can reproduce the essence of his father,” says Vitello.

This kind of thing requires the ability to emulate the brain. While huge strides in computing power are being made, we’re some way off from that level of processing power.

“I met Ray recently and he thinks of it as a computer scientist, that if we have enough computing power we can simulate the brain,” comments Dunne. “I think we’re so far off understanding how the brain works this is just wrong at the moment.”

Even what conciousness is still eludes researchers. Only last year was a whole new neuron was discovered which goes to show how little we know about the brain at this point.

“The company I used to work for [Neurolectrics] has a project on measuring consciousness, but just the level of it,” Dunne continues. “We just don’t know how this stuff works at a very fundamental level.”

When asked how far along ‘the loading bar’ we are towards brain emulation, Dunne said he’d put it at somewhere around one percent. However, things such as stimulating the brain to improve memory retention or boost certain abilities he believes is a lot closer.

That isn’t without its own challenges. Dunne explains how it’s almost impossible for someone able-sighted to learn braille as not enough brain power is dedicated to the task.

“If you enhance one feature, you kind of have to take that processing power from somewhere else,” he says. “To learn braille you need to be blind as otherwise you’re using your visual cortex and there’s not enough computing power for the task.”

Dunne then goes on to note how AI could help to speed up breakthroughs that are difficult for us to comprehend today: “If we do invent artificial general intelligence, it might figure out all we need to know about the brain to do this within the next 30 years.”

AI is keeping the dream alive, but it seems unlikely that many – if any – under 50 will be living forever. At least we can look forward to some transhumanist enhancements in the coming years.

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The keynote featured IBM’s SVP of Global Business Services, Mark Foster; the EU’s Digital Economy and Society Commissioner, Mariya Gabriel; and the Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Angel Gurria.

Foster opened the session with a foreboding tone: “What we want to talk about is something very serious and I think critical to acceptance of all the great technology we’re looking at outside this building.”

A glance around the exhibition floors shows how AI and the IoT are maturing. In fact, this event is less about mobile technology than it’s ever been.

This year, MWC has employed an opt-in facial recognition system from Breez to enable attendees to access the venue. It was incredibly quick, but there’s a definite unease about how that data is being stored and used.

Building trust will be essential to ensure the full potential of such technologies can be unlocked. Another technology emerging, the blockchain, will help with the security aspects.

Foster notes how we’re at an inflexion point in technology with AI, the IoT, 5G, and blockchain converging to unlock an immeasurable number of possibilities.

“With the combination of AI, automation, blockchain, 5G… we’re at a time when there’s a convergence coming together at scale for one of those moments which changes how business gets done,” he says.

By mitigating the risks, these technologies can benefit mankind. A failure to do so, however, could be devastating and will damage trust.

“We’re seeing a fantastic capacity to take advantage of so many amazing new technologies,” he comments. “We’re also facing a time when people are more concerned than ever about the implications of abusing those technologies.”

Some of the considerations Foster highlights include data privacy, inclusiveness, and ensuring we do not expand the digital divide.

IBM recently conducted some research in which it talked with some 1,200 CEOs around the world and found data responsibility was the number one AI issue on their minds. Some 91 percent said they expected new demands from their customers about the ethical way they’re introducing AI. 92 percent said they expected more regulation.

Foster was followed by a couple of individuals representing two institutions exploring such regulations. The first was Mariya Gabriel who is the EU’s digital economy and society commissioner.

The EU is investing heavily in digital technologies. In fact, Gabriel claims the bloc’s €4 billion 5G investment represents the largest in the world. She points towards an ongoing 139 5G trials as world-leading, and that 10 cross-border 5G motorways are now open.

“IoT, AI, 5G, big data, are all part of what will be the future of our industries. All industries. This is a fact,” says Gabriel. “We need to reap its opportunities, mitigate its risks, and make sure it’s respectful of our values as much as driven by innovation.”

You won’t hear the EU speak much without talking about values. It’s often debated how much the EU practices what it preaches, but it’s making a clear effort with AI to develop some ground rules. What it won’t do is rush headfirst into deployments.

“When 5G becomes mission critical, it needs to be secure,” comments Gabriel. “Nobody is helped by premature decisions.”

The EU is enlisting 52 experts to develop guidelines on the ethical implementation of AI. An initial version was published last December and it was opened up for comments on 1st February 2019. Over 500 have been received so far.

Gabriel says the next step is a trial phase for the guidelines. The goal, she claims, is to make ‘ ’ AI a reality. She hails the digital single market as tearing down things like roaming charges, while GDPR is becoming a ‘world reference’ (her words, not mine.)

“Europe has to have a common approach or there’s a risk of fragmentation,” says Gabriel. “Diverging decisions taken by member states trying to protect themselves we know damages the digital single market.”

While the EU is concentrating on Europe, other institutions are looking to influence global policies in world-changing innovations such as AI.

Next on the agenda was a representative from one such institution. Angel Gurria is the Secretary-General of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development).

Gurria also notes how the ‘rapid digitalisation’ from the aforementioned technologies brings opportunities and challenges. He starts with the benefits of technologies such as AI for things like making better decisions.

“AI is not only dynamising economies and facilitating lives,” says Gurria. “It’s also helping people make better predictions and better decisions; whether it’s the shop floor manager or a doctor in the operating room.”

Gurria transitions into how machines work better with human control, a suggestion they should be designed to enhance productivity rather than replace people. “Less artificial, more intelligent,” he says.

AIs replacing jobs is one of the biggest societal fears. Low-skilled jobs are expected to be most at risk. Some research indicates they’ll create as many as they destroy, but many will find themselves without the skills necessary for these new roles.

Gurria highlights the OECD estimates 14 percent of jobs in the countries it operates are deemed at ‘high risk’ of being replaced by automation. A further 32 percent is considered at risk of ‘significant disruption’ over the next 10-20 years. Added together, close to half the workforce is at risk of being displaced or disrupted.

“Disruption is a good word when you come to these exhibitions,” jokes Gurria. “In the traditional sense, however, it means people are going to feel underqualified after the effects of the technology.”

Another concern raised by Gurria is that of ‘automatised discrimination’ that affects life-changing things for an individual like hiring processes, loan approvals, or even the criminal justice system.

Seeing Gurria follow Gabriel, I couldn’t help but think it seemed like both should be working together on this issue rather than various sets of AI guidelines. As if he could read my thoughts, Gurria says the institutions – including others, not just the EU – speak to each other and it does not mean work is being duplicated.

“I just met with the head of UNESCO, and she has an advisory group too,” explains Gurria. “Now we have three large institutions – one specialised in European issues, UNESCO which is worldwide, and the OECD which is about policies for better lives.”

The OECD is launching the results of its two-year ‘Going Digital’ project at a dedicated summit held between the 11-12th March 2019. At the summit, the project’s main findings and policy messages will be presented.

We’ll have coverage of the OECD’s summit next month, but until then this MWC session gave us all plenty to think about. Primarily, that AI needs to be developed with innovation, values, and trust.

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Dr Paula Boddington, a researcher and philosopher from Oxford University, wrote the book ‘Towards a Code of Ethics for Artificial Intelligence’ and led today’s proceedings. She claims to embrace technological progress but wants to ensure all potential impacts of developments have been considered.

“In many ways, AI is getting us to ask questions about the very limits – and grounds – of our human values,” says Boddington. “One of the most exciting things right now is that all over the world people are having deep and practical conversations about ethics.”

Naturally, we’ve covered ethics on many occasions here on AI News. You will have heard the warnings from some of the world’s most talented minds, such as Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk, but although they represent some of the most prominent figures – they’re far from being alone in their concerns.

Just earlier this month, we covered a report from some of Boddington’s colleagues at Oxford University warning that AI poses a ‘clear and present danger’. In the report, the researchers join previous calls across the industry for sensible regulation — including for a robot ethics charter, and for taking a ‘global stand’ against AI militarisation.

Part of today’s difficulty is defining what even constitutes artificial intelligence, argues Boddington.

“It’s difficult to find an exact definition of AI that everyone will agree on,” she argues. “In very broad terms, we could think of it as a technology which aims to extend human agency, decision, and thought. In some cases, replacing certain tasks and jobs.”

Opinion is split on the impact of AI on jobs – some believe it will kill off jobs and that a universal basic income will become necessary, while others believe it will only enhance the capabilities of workers. There’s also the opinion that AI will increase the wealth inequality between the rich and poor.

“You may argue that technology, in general, enhances human capabilities and therefore raises the question of responsibilities,” says Boddington. “But AI has potentially unprecedented power to how it extends human responsibility and decision-making.”

Boddington highlights the potential for AI if used ethically for things such as diagnosing medical conditions and quickly interpreting large amounts of data. As a philosopher, she ponders whether it extends our reach beyond what humans can handle.

‘Responsibility is one of the things which makes us human’

Responsibility is the word of the day, and Boddington has concerns about AI diminishing it. She brings the audience’s focus to one of the most famous studies of obedience in psychology – carried out by Stanley Milgram, a psychologist at Yale University.

Milgram’s study, for those unaware, involved authority figures giving the command to one set of test subjects to electrocute others when they answered questions wrong – with an increasing level of shock.

The levels were labelled as they became more deadly. While some began to question in the upper levels, they ultimately obeyed as a result – it’s theorised – of their lab surroundings. When subjects were asked to go straight to deadly levels of shock, they refused.

The study concluded that, when responsibility is eroded bit-by-bit, people can be susceptible to committing acts considered inhuman. Milgram launched his study out of interest in how easily ordinary people could be influenced into committing atrocities, following WWII.

AI is already being used for marketing and therefore is being designed to manipulate people. Boddington is concerned that humans may end up making or authorising poor decisions through AI due to diminished responsibility.

“We could allow it to replace human thought and decision where we shouldn’t,” warns Boddington. “Responsibility is one of the things which makes us human.”

Beyond making us human, responsibility also provides health. In a study of Whitehall staff, where there are strict hierarchies, those which held responsibility and had the power to make changes had better health than those who did not. Having these responsibilities eroded may lead to poorer wellbeing.

Answering these questions, and ensuring the ethical implementation of AI, will require global cooperation and collaboration across all parts of society. The failure to do so may have serious consequences.

What are your thoughts about ethics in AI development?

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